Tag: PST

After much (much, much, much, MUCH) anticipation, the day of site announcements finally came. At last we know where we will be living and working for the next two years, and are able to form the beginning of a picture of our new life in Liberia. I know many of you have been waiting for this…

Greetings! This past Saturday, Amy and I sat in an auditorium packed with students, parents, faculty, Peace Corps staff, and our fellow trainees to celebrate the achievement of over 700 students and the completion of Peace Corps’ model school. Three weeks ago we both walked into a classroom to teach for the first time. On…

We have been living in Liberia for about a month and a half now, and are just over the halfway point of pre-service training (PST). Nick and I have shared small stories about training, our family, and a taste of our adventures as we get to know the country we now call home. But our…

No need to send out the cavalry, we are busy with training. There is much to catch you up on, but let’s start where we left off… On June 25th, all of the LR-7 trainees and their families gathered at the training hall for the Peace Corps naming ceremony. This is an event where each…

I am sitting on a wooden couch in a room lit by a small flashlight while writing this. Nick and Pa are talking about the football game blaring from the Video Club across the street. We are talking to Ma about politics, and cookouts, and that American football player that blew off his fingers with…

A few short hours after our return from site exposure came the adoption ceremony. Just a bit of background on this – the bulk of PST (pre-service training) is spent living with a host family in town. The host families have many responsibilities beyond housing and feeding the volunteers. They must also teach us how…

Less than a week into our training came site exposure – this consists of travelling across Liberia to visit the home of a currently serving Peace Corps Volunteer, and staying with them for three days. We split into groups of three or four, and spent Sunday travelling, some close and some far, to the various…

O-wann-ae (Hello) For the past few days, the LR-7 PC trainees have been visiting current volunteer’s communities around the country. We have been pushed from the comfortable nest of our training compound and sent out into the real world of no wi-fi/power, bucket showers, Liberian English, and spiders the size of my hand. Sunday morning,…

Nick and I woke up early this morning to watch the sunrise and wash our clothes in a bucket on the porch of the training hall dorms. While I scrubbed (and scrubbed and scrubbed) I found my mind wandering around thoughts ranging from, “I cannot believe this is my new home.” to the more practical,…